U.S. Factory Orders Rebound 1.4% In February, More Than Expected

(RTTNews) - After reporting a steep drop in new orders for U.S. manufactured goods in the previous month, the Commerce Department released a report on Tuesday showing a significant rebound in factory orders in the month of February.

The Commerce Department said factory orders surged by 1.4 percent in February after plunging by a revised 3.8 percent in January.

Economists had expected factory orders to jump by 1.0 percent compared to the 3.6 percent slump originally reported for the previous month.

The report said orders for durable goods shot up by 1.3 percent during the month, while orders for non-durable goods jumped by 1.6 percent.

The Commerce Department said shipments of manufactured goods also surged by 1.4 percent in February after falling by 0.8 percent in January.

Inventories of manufactured goods also rose by 0.3 percent in February after edging down by 0.1 percent in the previous month.

With shipments jumping by much more than inventories, the inventories-to-shipments ratio fell to 1.47 in February from 1.49 in January.